Sectional header



Jan. 3, .1928.

' A. COTTON SECTIONAL HEADER Filed Nov. 11. 1925 Patented Jan. 3, 1928.

U'NJITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED COTTON, DECEASED," LATE OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, BY LAURA P. COTTON,

EX'EC'U'IRIX', on ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TQHEINE BOILER COMPANY, OF s'r. Louis, MISSQURI, A oonronarron or MISSOURI.

SECTIONAL HEADER Original application filed August .4, 1923,,Serial No.-655,6,67. 'Divided and this application filed November 11, 1925. Serial No. 68,375..

This application is a division of the application for patent that resulted 1n U. S. Patent No. 1,565,061, to Alfred Cotton, dated December 8,1925. 7;

The object of the present in entron is to 'n'ovirflo asectional header, wh ch, in addition to having the essential features and characteristics of the header described in U. S. Patent llo. 1,565,060, to Alfred Cotton, dated December 8, 1925, is provided lll ltS sioes with pockets for holding the packing that is used to caulk the joints between ad jacent headers.

Another object is to provide a header. or the general type disclosed in the said Cotton Patent No..1,5 65,060, which is of such des lgn that the bulges on the front and rear sides of the header contain sufficient metal to eliminate thepossibility of the header rupturingorcracking duringthe operation of deforming said. bulges to produce tube seats and hand hole cover seats.

Figure liof thedrawings .is a perspective view of a boiler header thateinbodies the present invention. l

Figure 2 is a. side elevational VlGW'O'l said header.

Figure 3 is an elevational viewof the rear side of the header.

Figure 4; .is a vertical sectional yiew of said header, taken on the line 44 of F gure 8; and. Figure 5 is :a horizontal sectional View, taken through; two adjacent headers, illustrating the packing that is used to caulk the joints between said headers.

The header shown in the drawings is preferably constructed from a welded or seamless tube of cylindrical or oval shape in cross section, that is deforinedby dies so as to pro,

duce a header of substantially rectangular shape in cross section, provided with two corrugated lateral sides, each of which is made up.of asor-ies of valleys 1 arranged in alternate relation with a series of ridges 2 and disposeddiametrically opposite the valleys-and ridges on the other lateral side of the header, a front portion that is provided with a group of relatively Wide, flat faces 3 that extend transversely of the header and awgroup of relatively narrow, flat faces 4 that lie'between said wide faces 3. and a rear portion provided with a group of relatively" wide, flatfaces 3 and a group of alternate relation.

relatively narrow, fiat faces 4:? arranged in The flat faces 3 and 4 on the rear side of the header are provided with holes 3 and 40 for receiving the water-tubes of the boiler in which theheader is used, and the flat faces 3 andl on the front side of the header areprovided with hand holes 30 anddO that are normally covered by hand hole plates or covers (not shown). In the particular form of the invention herein illustrated two tube holes are formed in-each ofthe Wide, flatlfaces 3*, on therear side of the header and two hand holes are formed in the flat faces'3 on the front side of the header, but this is not essential, as the seat faces on the front and rear sides of the header and the holes in said seat faces can be disposed in various ways Without. ,departingfroni the spirit of the invention.-- I Y The flat faces on the front and rear sides of the header that contain the. tube holes and hand. holesare inclined slightly to the vertical, as shown in Figure 14, so as .to-forni tube seats and hand .hole cover seats that are disposed at substantially rightangles to theplongitudinal axisof the-boiler tubes,

each of the hand hole cover seats on the front side 'ofthe header-being arranged slightly higher than the particular tube seat v onthe rear side; of the header vvith which it co-operates so that the hand holes will be arranged diametrically opposite the tube holes and in longitudinal alignment Withthe tubes, this feature of theheader being illustrated, clearly in Figure 4, wherein the dot and dash lines :0 indicate the center lines of the boiler tubes and the Eenter'lines of the tubeseats and hand hole cover seats on the front and rear sides of the header.

It will be noted by referenceto the drawings that the valleys 1 inthe lateral sides of the header are formed by diametricallyopposed, inwardly-pressed portions of the tube from which the header isconstructed and that the ridges 2 on the lateral sides of the header are formed by diametricallyopposed portions of said tube that bulge .latorally in opposite directions from the center line of the header. Also that the valleys and ridges on the lateral sides of theheader are disposed :in'parallelrelation with each other, but-are inclined slightly tothe horizontal, so as to extend in the same general direction as the tubes of the boiler. By referring to Figure 2 it will be noted that the portions on the front side of the header that are located at the front ends of the valleys 1 bulge forwardly and that the portions on the rear side of the header that are located at the rear ends of said valleys bulge rearwardly, thus virtually forming groups of transversely-disposed valleys on the front and rear sides of the header that lie between groups of transversely-disposed ridges or bulges on the front and rear sides of the header. o i

The'fiat faces on the front and rear sides of the header that constitute the hand hole cover seats and the tube seats are produced by forming indentations in the transverselydisposed valleys and bulges on the front and rear sides of the header, as shown in Figures 1 and 3, the metal in these portions of the header being bent in such a way as to produce reverse bends or folds f at the ends of said flat faces, as shown clearly in Figure 1. In order to prevent the metal inthese portions of the header from being bent ab ruptly at such a sharp angle as to tend to cause the metal to rupture, the ribs on the side dies that form the valleys 1 in the lateralsides of the header are not disposed in absolutely parallel relation to the center lines of the co-operating flat faces on the front and rear sides of the header, represented by thedot and dash lines 00 in Figure l, but, on the contrary, are disposed slightly out of parallel with said center lines, so as to produce bulges on the front and rear sides ofthe header that are of sufficient area to permit said bulges to be indented or pressed inwardly to form the fiat faces, without causing the metal at the ends of said flat faces to crack. To state it in another way, the center lines of the ribs on the side dies of the deforming apparatus are set at a slightly greater angle to the horizontal than the center lines marked 00 in Figure l, so as to produce bulged portions on the front and rear sides of the header that are of greater area and which contain more metal than if the center lines of the ribs of the side dies were arranged in absolutely parallel relation to the center lines represented by the dot and dash lines 00 in Figure l. Accordingly, the header that forms the subject-matter of this application is distinguished from the header described in the U. S. Patent No. 1,565,060, to Alfred Cotton, dated Dec. 6, 1925, in that the ridges and the valleys in the lateral sides of the header are disposed at a slightly greater angle to the horizontal than the center lines of the boiler tubes, the result that is attained by constructing the header in this manner being that the bulges on the front'and rear sides of the header contain sufiicient metal to prevent them from cracking or rupturing when they are indented to produce hand hole cover seats and tube seats.

Another novel feature of the header that forms the subject-matter of this application is that it is provided in its lateral sides with pockets for receiving the packing that is used to caulk the joints between ad.- jacent headers. Said pockets are formed by depressions 2 in the ridges 27011 the lateral sides of the header and they are produced during the deforming operation by the natural tendency of the metalin the crowns of said ridges to cup up at the ends ofthe ridges when the opposed portions in the sides of the tube bent inwardly and when the intermediateportions in the front and rear-sides of the header are pressed inwardly to form the wide, flat faces in which the tube holes and hand holes are formed. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired" to be secured hy Letters Patent is:

1. A sectional header of substantially rectangular shape in cross section adapted to have aplurality of circulating tubes connected to-saine, said header consisting of a deformed metal tube provided on its lateral sides with diametrically-opposed, outwardlybulged portions and diametrically-opposed valleys that are disposed at a slight angle-to the circulating tubes, bulges on the front and rear sides of the header arranged in staggered relation to the outwardly-bulged por- I tions on'the lateral sides of the header, and tube holes and hand holes in the front and rear sides of the header. I

2. A sectional header of substantially rec tangular shape in cross section adapted to have a plurality of circulating tubes connect ed to same, said header consisting of a deformed metal tube provided on its lateral sides with diametrically-opposed, outwardlybulged portions and diaine'trically-opposed valleys that are disposed at a slight'angle to the circulating tubes, bulges and vallews on the front and rear sides of the header arranged in staggered relation with those on the lateral sides of the header, and flat seat faces in the bulges and valleys on the front and rear sides of the header provided with hand holes and tube holes.

8'. A sectional header of substantially rec-- tangular shape in cross section adapted to have a plurality of circulating tubes connected to same, said header consisting of a deformed metal tube provided on its lateral sides with diametrically-opposed, outwardlybulged portions and diametrically-opposed valleys that are disposed at a slight angle to tie circulating tubes, and angularly-dis posed, flat seat faces on the frontand rear sides of the header provided with holes and joined to the valleys in the lateral sides of i an the header by folded or reversely-bent portions ofthe tube from which the header is constructed.

i. A sectional header of substantially rectangular shape in cross section adapted to have a plurality of circulating tubes connect ed to same, said header consisting of a de formed metal tube provided on its lateral sides with. diainetriCally-opposed valleys and ridges, bulges on the front'and rear sides of arranged in staggered relation to the header 7 the ridges on the lateral sides of the header, hand holes and tube holes in the front and rear sides of the header, and pockets in the ridges on the lateral sides of the header for holding the packing material that is used to caulk the joints between adjacent headers.

5. A sectional header consisting of a 1101- low member of substantially rectangular shape in cross section constructed from a metal tube Whose Walls are bent in such a Way as to form dianietrically-opposed valleys and ridges on the lateral sides of the header and also flat surfaced seat faces on the front and rear sides of the header, hand holes and tube holes in said seat faces, and depressions in the crowns of the ridges on the lateral sides of the header for holding the packing that is used to'caulk thejoints between adjacent headers.

6. A sectional header consisting of a hollow member of substantially rectangular shape in cross section constructed from as LAURA P. COTTON, Execute-2'00 cle tom's men under the Wz'ZZ 0/ Alfred Gotten, Deceased. 

